Midwives in Seoul, Korea

[HappyFox05]

I'm still determined not to deliver in an Army hospital. If anyone knows of any homebirth midwives who live in Korea/will be in Korea/are thinking of going to Korea sometime in the Nov-Dec timeframe, I'd love to get in touch w/them for an interview. DH isn't totally comfortable w/a UC homebirth and I don't want to pull the dirty trick of "Oh, sorry Sweetie, I didn't realize he/she was crowning, guess we're giving birth here in the apartment".

[Paige, CPM]

I don't know anyone that will just happen to be there but I do know I have heard of traveling midwives.

Ollie Hamilton is a traveling midwife, you can find her contact info on the Birth With Love website. She asks for travel expenses, accomidation and then her regular fee, I think.

There are probably others...post here specifically asking for info on traveling midwives and you might get more replys.

Good luck! Paige

[MamaRabbit]

None that I know of. The CNM midwife that attended my DS's birth in Bangkok did homebirths in Seoul a few years ago. Foreign midwives can't be licensed. She worked at a hospital for a while and the hospital paid off the gov't so she could work there unlicensed. She helped change their hospital over for natural births while she was there. You want me to ask her if she knows of anyone still there doing homebirths? Or possibly you could check out the hospital and see if the C/S rates have gone up again or not?

[HappyFox05]

I suspected that foreign midwives probably weren't licensened here. If your friend knows anyone, that would be great.

I guess "determined not to deliver in an Army hospital" is a little strong. Since my original post, I've had a pretty knowledgeable co-worker, w/three homebirths of her own, volunteer to be an advocate for us in the hospital. I wouldn't mind so much giving birth in the hospital if we could just convince the staff to wait outside the door until we need them. Nothing against the staff, but we don't really know any of them - every appointment is w/a different care provider & soldiers give birth w/whoever's on call.

[MamaRabbit]

I'll see if my friend knows anyone there. You could also try to locate a doula there. Lots of foreigners living there, so who knows, maybe there is one.

[Gunter]

have you tried to contact the Korean Midwives Association or the Korean Women's Development Association?

[HappyFox05]

Originally Posted by Gunter

have you tried to contact the Korean Midwives Association

Yes, but only by email - no response.

or the Korean Women's Development Association?

Don't know how to get in touch w/them. Nothing shows up on Google ('cept your post ).